1. Field
Example embodiments relate to printing plate cleaning apparatuses and/or printing apparatuses including the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Electronic printing as a next generation printing technology that is an alternative to remarkably improve a conventional production technology such as for a semiconductor and a display device is a technology for printing a pattern of various electronic elements such as a sensor, a solar battery, a flat panel display, an electronic circuit, etc.
The electronic printing technology simplifies a manufacturing process of the several electronic elements compared with a conventional photolithography process such that manufacturing time and production cost may be remarkably reduced and mass production is possible because of a low manufacturing cost. Also, the electronic printing technology may be applied to a substrate of various materials such as plastic, fiber, and paper as well as a glass substrate such that a usage range thereof is very wide.
Examples of the electronic printing technology include inkjet printing, nanoimprinting, gravure printing, reverse offset printing, offset print printing, and microcontact printing. Among them, the reverse offset printing may use an ink having low viscosity, and is advantageous in an aspect of thickness uniformity of the ink such that it may be variously applied to the manufacturing of a thin film transistor, a color filter, etc.
In the various electronic printing technologies, a printing plate for forming a transferred ink pattern is used, and the printing plate is referred to as a cliche in the reverse offset print. This printing plate may include a concave or convex pattern, and it is necessary to clean ink or foreign particles that may remain on the printing plate after the printing process. In the cleaning process of the printing plate, if the printing plate is not thoroughly cleaned, a printing defect may be generated by the remaining foreign particles in a next printing process such that the thorough cleaning of the printing plate is important to increase printing quality.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.